Spot-fixing: Asif may challenge conviction

Jailed Pakistan pacer Mohammad Asif's lawyers are set to appeal against his conviction in the spot-fixing scandal and if successful, it could lead to his release from prison.

Jailed for a year by Southwark Crown Court in London after being found guilty of conspiring to cheat and conspiring to accept corrupt payments, Asif is serving jail-time with team-mate Salman Butt (30 months), who was convicted of the same charges.

The third convict, 19-year-old Mohammad Amir, has been sent to a youth detention and correction centre for six months due to his young age. While Butt and Amir plan to appeal against their sentence, Asif has decided to challenge the conviction itself with his lawyers saying that no money was ever found on him.

"We are considering an appeal against conviction, not sentence," a representative of Asif's legal team was quoted as saying by ESPN Cricinfo.

"They

feel that the jury may not have been within their rights to convict Asif on the evidence they had in front of them. This appeal is expected to be lodged in the next seven days," the website reported.

Asif was found guilty of bowling a pre-determined no-ball in the Lord's Test against England last year, after taking money from convicted bookie Mazhar Majeed, who was sentenced to 32

months in prison.

Asif

denied the charges against him and his lawyers maintained that no money was ever recovered from him.

Butt and Amir, on the other hand, were found to have the cash that was paid by an undercover reporter from the now defunct British newspaper News of the World,